Practically Possibly
by UniqaChica
Summary: PouncyXCettie, for Random Jellicle Week September.
1. TV

(A/N: For BroadwayKhaos' Random Jellicle Week September! I did this in a hurry and took advantage of the word limit. I was so busy this week, you wouldn't believe. Well, *Glinda voice* the best place to start is at the beginning! Enjoy!)

Summary: PouncyXCettie, for Random Jellicle Week September.

Disclaimer: *glares* Must we go through this again? Plus, this is a website all about fanfiction; they know we don't own this junk!

Practically Possibly

A Pouncival/Etcetera Fanfic

by Jill Diamond

~Chapter One~

_TV_

"Pouncy, where the heck are you taking me? My feet hurt!" whined a small, light kitten.

"We're almost there! Don't slack off now! We'll never make it in time!" her companion encouraged.

"I-I'm trying! OOF!" Etcetera either tripped over a crack in the sidewalk or her own four paws, and fell down in a heap.

"Cettie!" Pouncival cried out. His gray-brown head whipped around at the "OOF!" of his friend and he scampered back her way. "You okay?" He took hold of one of her front paws and examined it.

"Yeah, nothing I haven't healed from before," she half joked. She tried to get up to prove her point, but she just fell right back down again with a muttered "Ouch!"

"Here," the young tom said simply. He swooped the paw he had in his behind his neck and on his opposite shoulder, and then grabbed around her stomach to support her. They walked this way until they had reached their destination-a small Tudor house on the other side of town. By that time, Etcetera had almost completely healed.

Pouncival jumped up onto the ledge of an open window and signaled for her to do the same.

Etcetera kneaded the soft front lawn briefly before gently wiggling her backside and pounced. Before she knew it, her feet slipped out from under her and her claws went out, daring the paint on the ledge to peel.

"Eeek!" she squealed.

The gray-brown tom's paws went for hers and he braced his legs. Etcetera herself wasn't very heavy, but he wasn't very strong. He pulled and tugged and heaved with all his kitten-might, and eventually, the princess had made it far enough up so that her hind feet could grip onto the ledge and aid her rescue.

"Thanks, Pouncy," she breathed, not daring to look over the edge and think about how high up they were. "Why are we here, anyway?"

Pouncival gently placed his paw over her mouth to shush her, and then pointed with his other at a young woman inside the house, turning on the television set.

"_And now, The Young and the Restless."_

"This is the best show," he whispered to her, gently releasing his paw on her mouth and settled down to watch. "But you have to be quiet, because this lady doesn't like cats."

"Mm hmm," Etcetera whispered, and curled up beside him.

(A/N: Tee hee! Pouncy likes soaps!)


	2. What might have been

~Chapter Two~

_What might have been..._

Pouncival tossed and turned that night in his makeshift bed under the rocking chair. Eventually, he just huffed and flopped onto his back, staring up at the termite-feasted underside of the chair.

_You idiot! You knucklehead! You pitiful excuse for a tom!_

Earlier that day, while he and Etcetera had been watching _The Young and the Restless_, she had been so close to him. She had looked so pretty in the warm glow from the house's rec room. Her eyes so big and sparkling with the intent of finding out who would get thrown into a coma. The cute way her head tilted whenever two characters were kissing.

Pouncival rubbed his paw against his forehead.

All he had to do was make a move. One single move. A brush against her shoulder, or whisper something in her ear, or start a game of tailsie, or something. Anything. It would have kept him calm tonight. It would have kept him calm for a long time.

Pouncival had been friends with the cream colored kitten ever since his first day in the Junkyard. They had a very special relationship. He was closer with her than he was his own brother, Tumblebrutus. She was the only one he allowed to call him "Pouncy". Everyone else just called him "Pounce", unless they wanted their teeth knocked out. She was the only one.

But lately, he had started to want to be around her more than ever. He felt more protective of her. More sure of himself when he was with her.

Pouncival rolled over onto his side and heaved a sigh.

_What if I had made a move? Would things have been any different? She's in love with Tugger, idiot. Can't you see that? She's never gonna consider you when she's got him on the brain._ _You'll always be her friend. Nothing more._

Pouncival left it at that and went to sleep again. Well, at least he tried to, but a very high-pitched "Pouncy? Are you awake?" sweetly assaulted his ear.


	3. Dramatical Cat

~Chapter Three~

_A Dramatical Cat_

"Pouncy? Are you awake?"

Pouncival turned over and rubbed his eyes slightly. Etcetera was peeping over the garbage at him, roughly 6 feet away.

"Cettie? What's going on? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"Aw, what they don't know won't hurt 'em," she brushed off, now trekking closer to him. "I'll go back to bed right after, but I remembered that I forgot to ask you something today!"

It was taunting him, how close she was now. She looked even prettier in the moonlight than she did in the sunlight. Her pupils had dilated and her eyes seemed much bigger and easier to get lost in.

"What?" he asked simply, trying not to give anything away.

"Well, Grampa is coming over tomorrow, and Momma wanted to see if you and Tumble wanted to come see him."

Pouncival already knew what Tumble's response would be, so he readily agreed to the get-together. Listening to the old Theatre Cat's stories always relaxed and amazed him, and he loved to do so whenever possible.

"Great! I can't wait to see him tomorrow! I've been practicing my Griddlebone!" Etcetera immediately took a very seductive and ditzy pose, and batted her eyelashes furiously. She tried to sing a little opera, but before her voice could crack, Pouncival jumped up and shushed her with his paw for the second time that day.

"Quiet! Tumblebrutus is right over there and he's a very light sleeper!" he harshly whispered.

"Sorry," she mumbled from underneath his fur. Her eyes seemed to soften and search for forgiveness in his eyes. Pouncival's eyes softened as well, realizing how close they actually were. His paw relaxed it's grip on her muzzle and moved over to brush her cheek gently.

_Do it. Now._

"Cettie? I-"

"Omigosh! I need to get back home right now!" Etcetera squeaked, interrupting him. She squeezed her arms around his neck for just a second in a hug, and then scampered off to the lower levels of the Junkyard back to her den.

Pouncival sighed again.


	4. Forget about tomorrow!

~Chapter Four~

_"Why can't you just live life? Forget about tomorrow!"_

"Here he is," called Jellylorum's voice through the small hole of an entrance. She came through with a much older and more fragile tom hanging on her arms, his paws shaking and his eyes somewhat lost.

"Grampa!" the two princesses shouted in unison, and they both ran over and gently hugged his legs.

"Take it easy, you two," Jellylorum scolded, even though they were being perfectly so.

"Oh, they're fine, Jelly, dear," the old tom quivered. "Just eager to see their grandfather, 'tis all."

Jellylorum shook her head slightly and lead Gus over to his seat, which Asparagus sat admirably beside.

"Hiya, Mr. Gus!" Tumblebrutus piped up.

"Oh, Tumblebrutus, no need to be so formal! Just Gus will be fine."

"Okay...Gus," the young tom replied shyly.

Electra bounced up and down from her spot.

"Grampa! Grampa! Story time! Please?"

The three adult cats chuckled to themselves.

"Well, maybe just one..."

On that note, Gus started telling the story of his first night starring in "Growltiger's Last Stand". The kittens had heard it more than twenty times already, but they didn't complain.

"...And then, when I finished my speech, do you know what I heard? Silence. Absolute silence."

The pair of sisters gasped for effect, but Pouncival was confused. He hadn't heard this part before.

"Weren't you afraid of getting cut from the play?" Tumblebrutus asked innocently.

"Boy, let me tell you something." Gus held out his shaking paws toward the young tom. "Do you know how these things got like this? Anxiety. Fear that I was getting too old to act anymore. Fear is exactly what released me from the theater. Why can't you just live life? Forget about tomorrow! Stop worrying about how everyone is going to treat you the next day? Just live. Act on crazy impulses! Have the time of your life! Kiss the queen of your dreams!"

At this, Pouncival's shoulder's tightened and he glanced at Etcetera out of the corner of his eye.

_I'm trying, old man. I'm trying._


	5. Death of a Loved One

~Chapter Five~

_Death of a Loved One_

"_Why can't you just live life? Forget about tomorrow!"_

Gus didn't know how much those words actually mattered.

Neither did Pouncival. Until he was gone.

It all happened very suddenly. The night just after his visit to his son's family. They said it started out as a wheeze. Then it grew to a cough. As the coughs grew louder, they grew shorter. And soon, Gus had no air to cough. His friends had tried to save him, but it was no use.

They all sat in the field not far from the Junkyard, where he now rested. Everyone had come to offer their condolences, but Asparagus' family, Tumblebrutus, and Pouncival had stayed the longest.

Pouncival didn't have much choice, because Etcetera had clung herself to him, crying her eyes out, and wasn't letting go anytime soon. But he would have stayed anyway.

The whole day he was absolutely infatuated. How close they were. His paw feeling the soft fur of her back in continuous pats and rubs. His heart was ready to either melt or jump out of his chest.

But he didn't make the move.

Even though he wasn't the most well-behaved of toms, he knew when someone was in true pain. True, deep, emotional pain. The kind that scarred you for life and never healed. It just kind of formed a scab. Closed, but easy to open back up again.

It wasn't the time.

Pouncival looked at the small stone they had used to mark his place, and he felt a tear fall down his cheek and plop onto Etcetera's head. She looked up, revealing her puffy, red eyes and wet, flushed face.

"Oh, Pouncy, don't you start crying, too," she whispered through a cracked, huffing voice. She released a tuft of fur on his left side and wiped the tear away with her paw.

It sent Pouncival's insides crazy when she touched his cheek, but he remained.


	6. A Hundred

~Chapter Six~

_A hundred..._

"Come on, you guys," Electra said in a near monotone, though tried to hide it, "we need to get this stuff cleared out by the end of the day."

"We're trying, Ellie," her sister retorted as she handed off another box roughly.

The tortie-fur kitten wanted to give Etcetera a look, but thought better of it and walked out again.

Apparently, Gus' dressing room at the theater had yet to be properly cleaned out. So the family and the brothers had been going all day, pulling out box after box, costume after costume, prop after prop, dead bouquet of flowers after dead bouquet of flowers. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, which Tumblebrutus had emphasized by having a sneezing fit every time he entered the dressing room.

Pouncival, being the curious tom kitten he was, pried the cover off one of the boxes and peeked inside. There lay a great barrage of scripts from various plays and musicals, with little notes out in the margins that must have been Gus' doing.

"Wow," he breathed. "Gus must've been in at least a hundred productions!" He picked up a script on the top layer and blew the dust off.

"Don't mess with that!" Etcetera cried as she rushed over to him. She picked up the cover to the box and prepared to put it back on.

"No, wait, look." Pouncival grabbed at her forearm and held the script up to her eyes. "This is "Romeo and Juliet". Don't you remember when he talked about this one?" He didn't wait for a response. The cream colored princess slowly returned the cover to the floor as he skipped to the page he was looking for.

"_But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?_

_It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!_

_Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon_

_Who is already sick and pale with grief_

_That thou her maid art far more fair than she._

_Be not her maid, since she is envious._

_Her vestal livery is but sick and green,_

_And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off._

_It is my lady! O, it is my love!_

_O, that she knew she were!_

_She speaks, yet she says nothing._

_What of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it._

_I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks._"

"Pouncy, you sound ridiculous."

"No, really!" he pushed. "Just try it!" He pointed to a place on the page for her. She leaned over his shoulder and peered at the old tongue. She started out slow and rickety, but soon she handled it with ease.

"_O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?_

_Deny thy father and refuse thy name;_

_Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,_

_And I'll no longer be a Capulet._

_'Tis but thy name that is my enemy._

_Thou art thyself, though not a Montague._

_What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,_

_Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name_

_Belonging to a man._

_What's in a name? That which we call a rose_

_By any other word would smell as sweet._

_So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,_

_Retain that dear perfection which he owes_

_Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;_

_And for thy name, which is no-_"

She would have continued, but her head had glanced up back at Pouncival, realizing how close they were, and looked into his eyes. The eyes giving her a meaningful glance like she was the only person in the world that mattered anything at all to him. Not even Tugger had looked at her like that. Ever.

Pouncival reached a slow and shaky paw up to her cheek, but before it even made it there, Etcetera quickly closed the distance between them with a kiss on _his_ cheek.


	7. Shut up, NOW

~Chapter Seven~

_Shut up, now!_

"Pounce likes Cettie! Pounce likes Cettie!" Tumblebrutus chanted in that annoying big sibling manner.

Pouncival looked at his brother and pointed his paw defiantly.

"You know, there is a tradition in the theater, where on the third Wednesday of every month, which is today, all young toms with patches over their right eye and who like a kitten by the name of Electra shut up, now!"

Pouncival didn't even have to admit it, and Tumblebrutus shut up.

_The End_

(A/N: Yeah. Well, that's the week! Pouncival's quote at the end was kind of taken and edited from the awesome James May. Sorry the whole thing is kind of short. Again, was REELLY busy this week! Hope you enjoyed!)


	8. AWARDS

(A/N: WINNER OF BEST WEDNESDAY AND FLUFFIEST STORY FOR JELLICLE WEEK SEPTEMBER! Thank you, BroadwayKhaos, so so so so SO much!)


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